About Katharine Le Hardy
From rural Dorset to Surrey Hills: a painter's journey through landscape
Katharine Le Hardy is a British artist whose atmospheric landscape paintings emerge from a deeply personal relationship with place and memory. Based in her Surrey Hills studio, she creates large-scale oil painting that invite viewers into contemplative spaces where nature becomes a vessel for emotion and recollection.
Katharine studied Fine Art BA Hons at the University of the West of England, Bristol (2000-2003) and her awards include winner Society of Women Artists (2019), Gilchrist Fisher Award (2007) and Royal Bath and West Scholarship (2007).
Katharine Le Hardy has long been admired for her landscape painting. After growing up in rural Dorset and studying in Bristol, Katharine spent nearly two decades in London before making the transformative move to the Surrey/Hampshire border. This relocation has profoundly impacted her work, deepening her connection to the natural world and infusing her paintings with renewed energy and authenticity.
"Since moving here a year ago, I’ve become attuned to the rhythms of my local woodland, observing its quiet transformations day by day. This ongoing dialogue with the landscape has become integral to my practice, informing both the subjects I engage with and the intuitive energy that guides my making."
Intuitive creation, deliberate craft
Katharine's distinctive approach begins not with predetermined compositions, but with instinctive mark-making. Working on multiple canvases simultaneously, she uses thinned oils and an array of tools to create suggestive, gestural marks. These initial applications become the foundation for subsequent layers, with many works living through several iterations as hidden landscapes emerge from the evolving surface.
In our age of instant gratification, this patient, physical process of painting becomes an act of resistance, requiring dedication, perseverance and genuine craft.
Collected internationally, represented locally
Katharine's work has found homes in distinguished private and corporate collections across four continents. Her paintings grace the walls of renovated London townhouses, country estates, and recently, the art collection in The Chancery Rosewood, formerly the US Embassy.
Artist Statement
Our world is now defined by speed, disconnection, and digital oversaturation. Katharine turns to the landscape, particularly woodland, as a site of both aesthetic enquiry and sanctuary. Her practice explores abstraction as a means of reimagining the natural world not as representation, but as a space for retreat, a space where the pace of modern life dissolves into organic rhythms. Its textures—layered, decomposing, regenerative—speak to patience, impermanence, and the unseen. In translating these elements through gestural mark-making and layering, Katharine constructs a visual terrain that invites pause and introspection. These works are not depictions of nature, but an exploration into the possibility of our place within it.
Landscape becomes a liminal space—neither here nor there, neither past nor future—where we can temporarily disconnect from the demands of the external world. Through abstraction, Katharine cultivates ambiguity and openness, allowing the viewer to project their own longing for stillness, grounding, and escape.
In a time when attention is fragmented and the pace of life accelerated, these works ask: What does it mean to slow down?
Education
2000 - 2003
1999 - 2000
BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of the West of England, Bristol
Foundation Course, University of the West of England, Bristol
Selected Exhibitions
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London, Candida Stevens Gallery
Solo Show, &Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
1 Large: 2 Small, Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester, UK
London Art Fair, Islington. Candida Stevens Gallery
Introducing... &Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Works on Paper 6, Blue Shop Galleries, London
British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London
When Feeling Out of Sight, Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London
London Art Fair, Islington, Candida Stevens Gallery
1 Large : 2 Small, Group Show, Candida Stevens Gallery
'If Wishes Were Horses', Solo Show, Candida Stevens Gallery
London Art Fair, Candida Stevens Gallery
'Dog Days', Northcote Gallery, London
Society of Women Artists, Mall Galleries, London
Solo Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Sussex
Field Notes, One Paved Court, London
Solo Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Sussex
Solo Show, Northcote Gallery, London
Solo Show, Northcote Gallery, London
Affordable Art Fair, New York, Cube Gallery
Northcote Gallery, London
Solo Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery Sussex
Northcote Gallery, King's Road, Chelsea, London
Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong: Envie d'Art, London, Paris
Art14, Olympia: Uptown Gallery, Kent
Affordable Art Fair, Brussels: Envie d'Art, London, Paris
Solo Show, Updown Gallery, Ramsgate, Kent
Solo Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel, Sussex
Affordable Art Fair, Seattle: Cricket Fine Art, London
Solo Show: Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea, London
21st Gilvhrist Fisher Award, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
Solo Show: Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel, Sussex
Solo Show: Lisa Norris Art, London
Affordable Art Fair, Seattle: Cricket Fine Art, London
Summer Show, Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea, London
Solo Show: Advocate Galleries, Wimbledon, London
Summer Show: Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea, London
Solo Show: Smithfield Gallery, London
Solo Show: Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundell, Sussex
Under a Grand: Grandy Art, Lennox Gallery, Fulham, London
Summer Show: Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea, London
Solo Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel, Sussex
Artwork Commission. Create something uniquely yours.
Commission a bespoke atmospheric landscape painting that captures your vision and transforms your space. Working closely together, we'll create an original work that resonates with your story and setting.
Commission Process
1. Initial Conversation
We begin with a detailed discussion about your vision, space, and preferences. Whether inspired by a meaningful location, a particular mood, or simply the desire for a statement piece, every commission starts with understanding your unique requirements.
2. Studio or Home Visit
Where possible, Katharine offers personal consultations to understand your space and discuss scale, composition and palette. This personal approach ensures your commissioned work will harmonise perfectly with its intended environment.
3. Creative Development
Using your brief as inspiration, Katharine begins the intuitive painting process that defines her practice. Regular updates and consultations ensure the work develops in a direction that excites and satisfies.
4. Completion and Installation
Your finished piece comes with full documentation, suggested framing options, and where possible, personal delivery and installation guidance.
Why choose a Commission?
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Completely bespoke. Every element tailored to your vision and space
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Perfect scale. Sized precisely for your intended location
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Personal connection. Direct collaboration with the artist throughout
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Ongoing support. Framing advice, installation help, and future conservation guidance
Commission FAQs
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Timing? Allow 2-4 months for completion, depending on scale and complexity. If you have a particular deadline (such as a birthday) in mind, I will try my best to meet it, depending on workload at that time.
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Payment Terms? Flexible payment plans available. Please contact Katharine for details.
Recent Commission Highlight
A significant commission has recently been installed at the iconic and prestigious Rosewood hotel project (formerly the US Embassy in London), opening September 2025.
